Shake Shack’s Tasty IPO Is Just More Bad News for McDonald's

A big cash pot – otherwise known as an IPO – followed by significant expansion of Danny Meyers' Shake Shack is good news for lovers of burgers and other speedily served foods. It will likely be great for investors. But it may well be really bad news for McDonald's and other trend laggers in the world of fast food.

Fast Casual is the current term. It actually means Fast Good vs. Fast-Not-Really-Food-You-Want-To-Eat, so much, like, ever.

Let’s look at that term for a moment. Fast? People stand in long lines, sometimes in a snowy Manhattan, just to grab a Shack burger, crinkle fries and a shake.

Oh, just another line outside of Shake Shack's flagship location in Madison Square Park. (Photo: Dan Nguyen/Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.)

And then there’s food. Shake Shack tells you the name of the butcher and talks origins and ingredients. Mickey D's promises to stop using those ammoniated meat dregs. But even Carl’s Jr. has gone for grass-fed beef. C’mon, Mickey! (And let's not even get in to McDonald's controversial new ad campaign, meant to stir emotions by showing messages like "We Remember 9/11" and "Boston Strong" on its signs; again, food quality, not marketing, should be the company's focus now.)

We’re in a moment of game change, across the board, for food, nutrition, farming and everything that goes with all of it. And if you talk to smart ranchers, you know that grass-fed beef that doesn’t taste good is produced by less-than-stellar ranchers. Lazy and cheap just doesn’t work for food short- or long-term anymore. But especially long-term. A sustainable business doesn’t mean some hippy dippy notion of purpose-driven not-for-profits. It means it works, for everyone, long-term and without causing harm. And it can taste just great. Read Nicolette Niman’s well-regarded new book, Defending Beef, and learn why it might just be ecologically smart as well.

Shake Shack's toffee concrete. (Photo: Robyn Lee/Flickr, used under a Creative Commons license.)

So a big ‘ole IPO for the folks at Shake Shack to expand globally is great news. We want to show how more smart businesses – like Chipotle continues to prove – can make everyone involved successful and wholesomely sated. Now, THAT’S a happy meal.